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Remedy: An Adventure Game Review by Toger I love going on vacation. I can get away from the everyday grind and relax, visit friends or shop and eat 'til I drop. It's fun until you get bad news. What if a good friend—who happens to be a detective—suddenly dies? What if you thought your friend's most recent case was the reason for his untimely demise? Would you consider investigating the case on your own? Such is the premise of Remedy, a new independent game from Swedish husband/wife team Mikael and Eleen Nyqvist. Remedy's story begins when Carol Reed, a young English girl who's vacationing in Sweden, receives a letter telling her that her friend, Conrad Vogel, a local detective, has suddenly died. Included in the letter from Conrad's sister is a letter from Conrad telling Carol about a strange case he's been working on where he could use Carol's help. Gameplay is standard point-and-click through node-based environments, with the viewpoint always through Carol's eyes. Players who may suffer from motion sickness should have no problem, as Remedy's camera does not pan. The interactive cursor changes from directional arrows for movement to gears for using an inventory items or a hand to open/close doors or pick up items. Accessing your inventory is simply a matter of moving the cursor to the top of the screen to open the inventory bar. A right-click or press of the Esc button will bring up the save/load/exit options. As with other games using the Adventure Maker engine, movement is limited to the four basic cardinal directions—meaning entry to some locations is only accessible from a precise spot, which you may only see from one specific direction. In one particular location, I found myself doing the "one forward step, look right, look left, repeat" shuffle, which caused me to lose track of where I was in relation to the rest of the room. Remedy's puzzles mainly consist of the inventory-based variety—picking up whatever isn't nailed to the floor and using it in the appropriate place. There's even an instance where you'll combine inventory items to make something new. You won't come across any situation too mind-crushing to figure out. There are no timed sequences, labyrinths or dying, although there is a small musical puzzle and one involving colors. If you've ever wanted to live inside your favorite watercolor, then you'll love the look of Remedy. Backgrounds were photographed in Norrköping, Sweden with a digital camera and then processed in Photoshop to give the appearance of a watercolor painting—everything has soft, blurry edges. In some instances, zooming in for a closer look will give you more detail. As with other Myst-style games, Remedy is a somewhat solitary quest. You will meet and interact with a handful of characters whose still images are superimposed on the lush backgrounds—their photographs will change as you proceed through the subtitled dialogue tree. As you chat up the locals or discover clues, new locations will open up for you to investigate. A handy map is available to access the various locations. Remedy is very linear—not that there's anything wrong with that—but you will find that not all can be solved when you first encounter a problem. There is a small amount of traveling back and forth. Remedy's original music score was charming and very soothing, although I will admit that while stuck in the first location, the snippet of music that looped got a tad annoying. Once I was free of that location, the rest of the music faded into the background. Voice work was pretty good, especially since the actors were all friends and/or family. A couple of the characters sounded a little flat, but it wasn't too bad. Several times, I had trouble hearing what was being said, as the sound would suddenly drop in volume. Strangely enough, there isn't a lot of ambient sound during the game—even while wandering through the city. It would have been a nice touch to hear the sounds of a bustling city, even if the still photographs didn't show it. As I read over this review, it occurs to me that I've given the
impression that I didn't really enjoy Remedy—in truth,
Remedy is a soothing, albeit extremely short, diversion.
I was somewhat surprised when it abruptly ended after only three
or four hours of play. I especially enjoyed looking at
the game; unfortunately, while my inner graphic junkie loved it,
the gamer in me was left wanting more. |
The Verdict
The Lowdown Developer: MDNA
Games Available for: Four Fat Chicks Links Screenshots
System Requirements Pentium 400 MHz Where to Find It MDNA Games $15 (includes worldwide shipping)
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